mWhile Roland Garros is underway in Paris, Rai 5 celebrates the great tennis of the past by sending in wave Borg McEnroe (tonight at 21.15). The film, directed by the Danish Janus Metz, reconstructs the legendary 1980 Wimbledon final among Swedish Bjorn Borg and the American John McEnroe. A match that went down in history which, still today, never ceases to excite. Even on the big screen.
Borg McEnroe: the plot of the movie
In the summer of 1980 The Wimbledon tournament is about to kick off and the two players most likely to win are Bjorn Borg (Sverrir Gudnason) e John McEnroe (Shia LaBeouf). Two young and talented tennis players who couldn’t be more different.
On the one hand, the seraphic calm and studied movements of theicy swedish player, seemingly emotionless. On the other hand, the warlike temperament and the nervous game of the impulsive US athlete, noto for the frequent fits of rage towards the spectators and the referee on duty.
Sverrir Gudson as Bjorn Borg in “Borg McEnroe”. (Lucky Red)
The contrast between the two champions does not end on the pitch. Their personalities are diametrically opposite e lifestyles at the antipodes: this pays off their extraordinary rivalry even tighter and more compelling.
Borg has already won Wimbledon four times and a fifth represents the possibility of making tennis history. After the rounds, the two meet again in the final: the antagonism culminates in an epic battle that became legend. uone of the best games Of all times.
A film about sport but not only
The rivalries between sports champions I’ve always been a very appetizing subject for cinema Hollywood and otherwise. Just think about rush by Ron Howard, on the antagonism between Niki Lauda and James Hunt. Borg McEnroe fits perfectly into the trend but with some substantial news.
In the story of the sporting event, the Danish director Janus Metz brings out the complementarity between the two changes: two apparently so distant personalities can in fact create a harmony. Almost as if Borg didn’t exist without McEnroe and vice versa.
Björn Borg and John McEnroe in the late 70s. (RCS Archive)
Philosophical suggestions aside, the film does not give up on the spectacular typical of Hollywood cinema nor to the flashbacks on the lives of the two tennis players. The sporting fact is very well known and yet the suspense grows, from frame to frame. Leaving the viewer, until the end, with bated breath. Thanks also to interpretations of the protagonistsespecially Shia LaBeouf, actor from troubled private life very reminiscent of McEnroe’s.
Far from being “simply” a sports film, Borg McEnroe reconstructs an era in which stardom in tennis was still in its infancy. The growing media attention was immediately resented by Borg and instead fueled the American “punk” tennis player’s hunger for victories.
Björn and John, frenemies
The “rivalry” between the two tennis players is perhaps one of the best sports stories (but also of friendship) of all times. Despite the three-year difference, the two tennis players they competed against each other only 14 times and the budget says 7 wins each. They played quite a lot on the presumed mutual hatred, at least until 1983, the year of Borg’s competitive retirement. But deep down they respected and loved each other, as can be seen in the film.
The year after the 1980 defeat, McEnroe takes his revenge winning Wimbledon, breaking the Swede’s streak of five triumphs on London grass. The American leprechaun will continue to win many tournaments in the following years while Björn slowly fades awaylosing physical fitness and the desire to play.
John McEnroe and Bjorn Borg in 2022. (Getty Images)
The two continued dating off the tennis courts and Borg was best man at John’s wedding in 1986 when the American married Tatum O’Neil, daughter of the great Ryan. Meanwhile Björn has launched into entrepreneurship and in 1989 he married Loredana Bertè after the singer saved him from a suicide attempt.
Both marriages were failures and the very champions took several years to get up. Then, in 2007, they starred together in a hilarious spot of the supermarket chain Tesco, to then find themselves on the tennis courts for some senior tournaments around the world. Cementing more and more a friendship that became legend.
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